I was over at a buddies today and he asked me what I knew about Pentax scopes. He told me his uncle had just bought two Pentax Gameseeker 4-12x40's and that he was really impressed by the clarity of them and he was thinking about ordering one. He also liked their BDC style reticle. He currently has a Nikon Prostaff BDC he hasn't used yet, but wants more than 3-9 which is what his Nikon is. I tried to tell him they weren't regarded very highly and were made in China, but he didn't seem to care about that. Are these halfway decent scopes, or are they horrible? I'm just wondering if he is going to be getting a piece of junk, or if they are decent scopes?

One member here had a Gameseeker 4x32 on his .458 Lott. Passed with flying colors. Other than that all I can say is that the Gameseeker and Gameseeker II are entry level scopes. Most here feel with entry level scopes your best to stay with the basics. Fixed power or lower powered variables staying away from the bells and whistles. I will say they don't suffer the bad reputation that the likes of Barska,BSA,etc. have. I'll also say that I'm a firm believer in buying the best scope you can afford. Sorry I can't be of more help.

I bought a 4-12x40 Gameseeker on e-Bay. The scope has a very nice and solid feel to it. The magnification ring at the back is huge!...too big and bulky. The scope were out of focus at 12xpower and I could not use it with that magnification setting. The best I could do was to leave it on 9x max.

The other problem was the reticle that "shivered" or kept moving. Maybe parallax? What good is a crystal clear view if the reticle dances like a zombie?

I finally sold the scope to a guy that obviously have never used a VXIII or SII Big Sky and he was happy with the scope. I will never go the Pentax route again. I'll rather pay a few dollars more for a FFII or a Vortex Viper (like the 2-7x on sale).

I wish all my scopes were as good a deal as the 4x32 Gameseeker. I paid $71.00 for it, brand new, closeout... no shipping charges. It has been on several heavy bangers, the .458 Lott mentioned above, I used it on my 7mmRemMag, a 30-06, and it now resides on my .458 WinMag. The glass is better than average, the BDC works as well as one could expect, it's been as good as any scope I've ever owned. I have no complaints. I cannot speak for a variable in the Gameseeker line, have not owned one. However, I've spent some time conversing with Pentax technical representatives (they got tired of me calling them about putting the Gameseeker on the Lott, I think) and they say the quality is as good with the variables as the fixed. I am not recommending you do so, but I would not hesitate to use one myself. They do not have a lot of adjustment range. I would say that their intended market is hunting under 400 yards. It is one of the best all around "deals" I've ever gotten.

Oh yeah, I left it with BigDaddy for a while and, though I don't THINK he ran over it with his truck (one of his durablilty test criteria), it did come back operational.

What do I not like about it? There is a slight greenish tint to the reticle that causes it to "fade out" in very low light. I get nearly all the legal hunting hours time out of it, and it most situations DO get all legal hunting time, but when in heavily shaded (heavy trees) areas near the final moments of hunting time, the Zeiss Conquest 4x gives a little better performance... qualify that to MY eyes. I've had a couple of situations with the Pentax where I could not bring myself to take a shot due to inabilty to picture the crosshair on the target in very low light. The Conquest performs better there, for sure. I could have made the shots, believe I would have dispatched the deer without problem, but it was not worth the possibility to me that I was overplaying my own skills in my own mind. Those deer are bigger and better today... I saw them both last season, but did not hunt them. I have pictures of them in my yard...

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